Leadership Message
Dear Wildcats,
In 1926, student body president and football quarterback John Byrd “Button” Salmon gave our university its most enduring tradition. His final words to his teammates — “Tell the team to bear down” — established a rallying cry that has guided generations of Wildcats for a century. We recognize it as more than a historical anecdote; it is a fundamental expression of the fortitude and resilience that define our campus community today.
This year, we are honoring the Bear Down centennial by celebrating signature university achievements of the past hundred years, all foundational to a legacy that continues today. After leading the Wildcats to our first Final Four in 25 years, Tommy Lloyd brought us together with a postgame tribute to Lute Olson. The roots of our space sciences program (see Page 18 of this issue) go back to 1963, when Gerard P. Kuiper and the Lunar and Planetary Lab mapped the surface of the moon for NASA missions. And the university has led in environmental research ever since the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research was founded in 1937 (you’ll find recent work on arid lands and heat resilience on Page 26).
I am proud to share that University of Arizona programs and faculty continue to attract national recognition, setting the stage for our next hundred years of impact. Fifty graduate programs were ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report, including eight in the top 20. The School of Theatre, Film & Television has been named in Variety’s 2026 Education Impact Report, marking the school’s debut in the publication’s annual list of top film and entertainment programs across the United States and Canada. The university advanced seven spots in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research rankings. Playwright and Professor Elaine Romero and Associate Professor of Astrophysics Erika Hamden (see Page 24) were both named Guggenheim Fellows this spring. Finally, 12 of the state’s 20 Flinn Scholars have chosen to begin their Wildcat journeys this fall in the W.A. Franke Honors College.
Excellence like this is evidence of the perseverance and hard work that defines Wildcats and our Bear Down ethos. Coupled with our heritage as a land-grant institution, it also translates to meaningful impact on Arizona’s economy, health and quality of life. One final example: Tech Launch Arizona, our office for commercialization and innovation, generated $456 million in economic output and supported 3,700 jobs statewide in 2025. That’s something to be proud of and another reason to greet fellow alumni with “Bear Down!”
Go ’Cats,
Suresh Garimella
President
